Tierra generosa

Canyon Passage (1946)

This is a tale with a not so subtle moral message--the man who is modest, just, and hardworking is the better man. And he'll get the sassy girl, the one who is currently attached to the gambling big spender who is the good man's friend and opposite. Dana Andrews plays the virtuous leading man perfectly--he's strong without being a tough or outrageous strong man (like John Wayne) and he's also kind, with a smile the shoots off his sombre face like a flash of light. That's he's popular with women is no surprise, but he's committed most of all to being a successful businessman, and a restless one, roving from outpost to outpost in beautiful Oregon.

His counterpart is the likable but flawed Brian Donlevy, who is really the perfect choice here because he isn't the kind of paradigm we will quite fall in love with. The woman who steals the show is Susan Hayward. And then there is Hoagy Carmichael, playing a role he often plays, the musician wise man who sees everything and understands it before anyone else. It's a great group, supported by hundreds of others (yes--an ambitious film) and directed with a subtle, fast touch by the unsung great, Jacques Tourneur.

So, in short, "Canyon Passage" was surprise and a total pleasure. I couldn't take my eyes off of the photography and the rich color, good pure Technicolor with the redoubtable Natalie Kalmus coordinating. The plot is strong, and Andrews is terrific in scene after scene. Westerns are sometimes difficult to see from the 21st Century without putting it into some history of film context, but this one works as a drama, pure and simple, a drama set out west in the late 1800s. The movie is also unique in being set in the lush mountains near Portland, Oregon. The scenery is gorgeous in the big sense, but every small scene is lush and forested and rainy--almost the opposite of that dry, open, blue sky norma in a "Western" strictly speaking. Interiors in golden lamplight lead to exteriors of dripping greens and blues, or the delicate grays of night.

Even the music is great, especially the lighthearted and clever songs by Carmichael. (The great Frank Skinner handled the rest of the score.) Edward Cronjager is one of the dozen great cinematographers of classic Hollywood as it moved into color, and in this you can see why. It's a complex film, visually, and it never lets up. Especially the night scenes (where the lights and sets could be controlled perfectly) are vivid and have that controlled beauty of great studio (and location) Hollywood. If any of these elements sound good, I wouldn't miss this film.

I was lucky enough to buy a British DVD copy of this little gem - an excellent transfer. Mostly set in the gold-mining town of Jacksonville, Oregon, it's a Technicolor western with a great story, fascinating characters, excellent acting, lovely music, beautiful art direction, costumes and fabulous outdoor scenery. Right from the opening, you get a good feeling of what it was like in Oregon, how people lived and thought; and we're quickly plunged into their lives. Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward are at their best and most beautiful, photographed by Edward Cronjager. Andrews, a scout, turned trader, is not his usual taciturn hero. There's a lightness to him. Susan Hayward's cheeky independence is very appealing, and she looks particularly fresh and beautiful. Patricia Roc, makes her USA movie debut as Dana Andrew's maidenly sweetheart, and Ward Bond is a really scary villain. His menace from his first appearance is palpable I've never seen him photographed to such unnerving effect. Brian Donlevy plays a likable banker, who has a gambling problem, and is accused of murder. Andrews helps him escape a lynch mob, but I'll give no more away. There's even time for a few songs from local minstrel, Hoagy Carmichael. This is director Jacques Tourneur's first western and it seems to me that he brings a very European eye to the production - the overall colouring is ravishing.

"Canyon Passage" though advertised as a western, plays more like a pioneer frontier drama with most of the characters looking like miners or loggers rather than the traditional Hollywood cowboys. To its credit and that of Director Jacques Tourneur, the set pieces look authentic and you believe that you are in the Oregon wilderness of the 1850s.

Logan Stewart (Dana Andrews) runs a freight business out of the small settlement of Jacksonville. The story opens with Stewart escorting Lucy Overmire (Susan Hayward), the fiancé of his friend local banker George Camrose (Brian Donlevy), back from San Fransico. Therin you have the eternal triangle even though Stewart is to marry Caroline Marsh (Paricia Roc) who is living with the family of Ben Dance (Andy Devine).

Camrose however, has a gambling problem. He is running up a large amount of IOUs with gambler Jack Lestrade (Onslow Stevens). Stewart bales him out with the promise that he will quit gambling. Town bully Bragg (Ward Bond) has it in for Stewart. They brawl in the local saloon.

Camrose meanwhile, has continued to gamble. To cover his losses, he is stealing gold from the deposits left on deposit with him. One of the miners returns unexpectedly and Camrose murders him to keep his secret. When Stewart leaves town, Lastrade sets Bragg after him without success. In the forest, Bragg murders a young Indian maiden which starts an Indian war and....................................

Dana Andrews to me, never made a convincing western hero. His fight with Bond is totally unbelievable as the slightly built Andrews bests the hulking Bond. Bond by the way, turns in an excellent performance as the brutal and lustful Bragg. Susan Hayward is beautiful with her res hair afire in glorious Technicolor. Donlevy, also excellent, plays Camrose not as a villain but as a man caught by the evils of his addiction to gambling.

Others in the cast include Lloyd Bridges as Johnny Steele a robust young minor and Hoagy Carmichael as wandering minstrel Hi Linnet (who among others sings his classic "Ole Buttermilk Sky". Andy Devine's two sons Ted and Danny play his sons in the film. Director Tourneur had worked with the legendary producer, Val Lewton earlier in the 40s.

A beautifully photographed film with authentic looking set pieces.

Tourneur's first Western is yet another of the director's unjustly misunderstood works. What at first appears to be vague or meandering tale is in fact an infinitely personal work with a subtle direction. Of all Tourneur pictures I have seen, "Canyon Passage" is the most endlessly fascinating. Here is a movie rich with pictorial beauty and simplicity, yet every time I watch it, I discover new things. The meaning often shifts and turns, revealing new depths, emotions, insights. You will probably not going to notice its emotional richness if you have just seen it once.

When I first saw "Canyon Passage", I was a little puzzled by it, especially the relationship between Dana Andrews' Logan and Brian Donlevy's George, but successive viewings and Chris Fujiwara's book were extremely helpful. "Canyon Passage" is far from a typical or ordinary Western, even though it concerns with theme of the affirmation of the American Myth or the cohesion of community. Most of the events occur off screen, the dialogue alludes to previous events that took place before the movie starts, the Hoagy Carmichael songs are unforgettable and become more timeless with each viewing. The three separate songs lyricize the narrative much like the timeless unifying song in Tourneur's masterful "Stars in My Crown"(1950).

Please give it another chance. It helps a bit if you revisit it from time to time to appreciate its neverending beauty and subtlety.

I never did think of "Canyon Passage" as a western -- more like a frontier-homesteader movie, but it still had the adventure and drama that makes a fine film. I agree with those that said there is something mysteriously appealing about this film, as I have remembered it since it came out in 1946 when so many other movies have long faded from memory. Ward Bond was not known for playing villains, and this performance was truly scary and sinister. Lloyd Bridges plays the friendly good guy that characterized his roles, and Dana Andrews is perfectly cast as the leader. The film is rather hard to find, and I am hoping a DVD will one day be available. It is well worth watching and collecting.